Evil according to Luther

From the consolation book of Martin Luther

§5. From evil on the left side.
Here belong the multiple griefs and disasters that the great legion of evil people can bring to us, or have to experience themselves. How much evil and disadvantage could they have done to our bodies, our honour and good name, from our properties, even to our souls if they were not prevented by God’s hand? – Yes, the higher the position and the honour in which someone is placed, to the same extent is the level of envious and hostile enemies, and so much the more must one notice and acknowledge God’s good and omnipresent help. We must also pay attention to the evil, which such evil and hostile people experience, and not be happy about it, but have compassion for them.

They are unhappier than we are, because they live outside this spiritual community which we are in because of God’s mercy in faith, so the evil that we experience is not comparable with theirs. For they are caught, in their sins and disbelief, in the trap of the devil and his slaves. If we think of this, how great becomes God’s goodness to us, which we in his service, through belief, with our limited outer burdens, may taste so sweetly. Indeed, this misery of our enemies and of the evil people, must do a devout heart such harm and concern, that he thinks of his own misery as nothing. Yes, he should pray for them because of that, and do as Christ did: forget his own sorrow, rights and innocence, and only be worried about how to release his enemies from those complaints which they are much more heavily tormented by, than he can ever be through his own bodily suffering. The cause, however, through which our own burden strikes us harder, lies in this: that the eye of our soul is not pure enough, to see how great is the death and dishonour of a man who is under the power of sin, and separated from his God.

Who is so heartless that, seeing the terrible appearance of those who look hideous because of their leprous’ curse, their wounds, will not turn away their head, and withdraw in terror; but how much uglier and more prone to horror is the soul of a sinner, which is completely rotten, polluted and disfigured. Truly, he is deeply unhappy, and even if it looks as though he is suffering as we are, it hurts him infinitely more than it hurts us, because he can not enjoy this sweet peace, this silent rest, the joy of the soul, even if he had everything in the world, as long as his intellect and conscience are stained and unsatisfied. The godless are like a troubled sea, because it cannot rest, and its waters stir up dirt and mud. The godless, says my God, have no peace. (Isaiah: 57:20,21). In one word: who looks at this complaining of evil people with a truly Christian heart, whether they be friend or foe, he must forget his own sorrow, and think of it as nothing: and, with Moses and Paul, have the desire to die for them, if it would save them. Such a fire of love burnt in our Lord Jesus Christ, when he died for us, and also left such an example here for us.

Evil according to Luther by Mieke Mosmuller